


Shy

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-24
Updated: 2006-12-24
Packaged: 2019-01-23 13:51:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12508868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: [Fic Exchange '06] Luna was clutching the latest edition of the Quibbler as always, but didn’t pay much attention to it; she’d discovered that spending time with Neville was almost as fun as reading her dad’s magazine. Not as much, but nearly as fun.





	Shy

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**Merry Christmas, Lynn!**

It wasn’t weird to see them over there; both of them were sitting under the branches of their favourite tree, books sprawled all around them, and if you looked closely enough, you could see a badly made paper airplane hiding in between the masses of papers. Not many students would have gone out to the grounds that Tuesday, even less with finals and O.W.L.s coming soon. Besides, it looked as if it was just about to rain, but somehow the clouds agreed that the earth wasn’t quite ready for something so magical. 

Still, neither of them appeared to be studying; they were too busy talking with each other, sharing shy smiles that only they could understand, something they’d been doing quite often lately. Luna was clutching the latest edition of the Quibbler as always, but didn’t pay much attention to it; she’d discovered that spending time with Neville was almost as fun as reading her dad’s magazine. Not as much, but nearly as fun.

"What’s that?" she asked, curious to know what was tied around his wrist and staring at it to see if there was anything special in it. With anybody else, Neville would have hastily hidden it behind his back, embarrassed, but Luna wasn’t like anybody else he’d ever met. Nonetheless, he hesitated but finally made up his mind. He showed her the purple string that was tied around his wrist and said,

"It’s—it’s something my mum gave me the last time I visited her in St. Mungo’s. My Gran told me she used to tie her hair with it when she was young, but as she can’t anymore..."

He unexpectedly seemed very interested in the grass.

Luna, who didn’t seem to mind about the string nor his embarrassment, told him that her mother used to hang lots of colourful anti-colds her father gave her down her neck, and that she, Luna, still kept them. "They work wonders," she said, "I haven’t caught a cold since I was nine." 

Neville merely smiled. Luna had something that made him feel as if they were _friends_. He wasn’t sure if they were, but friends were supposed to talk like they did all the time, right? To get together and study or do homework, to talk about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or just to simply be with each other… He was quite positive that friends did all this, but he didn’t want to sound stupid by asking "Are we friends?" and then see Luna laughing at him. 

Silence crept among them. Neither of them noticed, it wasn’t the uncomfortable kind of silence, but the silence that they were used to when they were with each other.

"Um... I, urm, Luna I’m really sorry about yesterday," muttered Neville, almost inaudibly, as quickly as he could and his cheeks flushing. He was nervously playing with this hands and twirling his fingers, not looking at her. 

"Oh! I was really funny, why do—" she cut off and gasped, "I can’t believe the Heartfulle Rose got you! You’re all pink in the face! I’ve never seen one before. I have to tell my father, he will be so happy." She beamed, while Neville desperately tried to hide his face. "He wrote an article about them in the last edition, maybe I can lend it to you later.. We haven’t been able to see one on our last trip." She then remembered, "Oh right, here… let me check..." she turned and searched inside her backpack looking for something. "Here."

Neville stared. A sprig of holly? He chuckled, but fortunately Luna didn’t notice. Her hand was still stretched with the sprig of holly in it, and her face wore an eager expression. He took it from her hand, but still, whatever the sprig of holly could work or couldn’t, Neville’s face kept the same colour.

"Oh, be careful with the leaves, see? They have that special shape so it’s easier to trap the Heartfulle Rose in it. They don’t like it at all, and can get pretty nasty." 

The grounds were surprisingly more silent than usual, and Neville felt more uncomfortable every second. He stared at the sprig of holly and stuffed it in his pocket. Luna was surely mocking him, but he still wanted to keep it, a memory of her. 

"Neville, you don’t have to a—" Luna stopped and turned her head toward the sounds of distant laughter. Neville heard it too and lifted his head, surprised, he thought no one besides the two of them was outside. He hadn’t seen anyone, but he spotted two figures leaving the castle, laughing loudly. He didn’t recognise them until they were near him and Luna. 

Lavender was supporting Ron, who had what looked like an almost empty bottle of Firewhiskey in his right hand; he looked as if he couldn’t have walked if Lavender wasn’t there to help him. His hair was messy, his shirt was halfway open, and his untied tie was hanging from his shoulder. He wore a cheery expression; Lavender just giggled and pecked him on the cheek.

"Neville! Luna! I didn’t imagine you would be out here… we wouldn’t have come if we’d known, we were just looking for somewhere more private, you know… the common room was full of people..." Lavender giggled. "But oh, we won’t interrupt what you were doing, go on, go on, we’ll leave, right, Won-Won?" 

Ron merely grinned and flushed. "I love Firewhiskey!" he yelled, but Lavender shushed him and whispered, "Ron, sh," she giggled again. "Someone might hear you!"

"I bet Hermione will be furious if she sees me." he said, ignoring Lavender. 

Neville stared at Luna, who was staring at Ron while he tied his tie around his forehead rather than his neck with a weird expression. 

"You’re acting funny," was all she said. No one paid attention to her, so Lavender turned around to face the castle, dragging Ron with her, and shouted, "I guess we’ll just find a broom closet!" before disappearing inside the castle, leaving the silence once more between Luna and Neville, which Luna decided to brake after a few seconds.

"Neville, why are you still pink in the face? Didn’t the sprig of holly help? I am pretty sure that’s what helps, but maybe I'm wrong."

Neville just wished he could someday show the courage of a true Gryffindor by telling her what it was that made him turn bright red.


End file.
